I would let my almost 10yo do this but he would 100% just go in the front door, drop his backpack in the middle of the living room, and eat all the food in the house while reading a book. 😂

I have a 9.5 yo daughter (and an older and younger son) and I leave her alone for an hour or so every once in a while, if I am running errands or taking a sibling to an activity. But I would definitely not have her let herself in after school every single day. If it’s once or twice a week, ok, but not daily. I think by middle school this would be fine, my 12yo could handle it now, but probably not until this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can he plunge a toilet? Turn the water off/on near every toilet and sink in the house and the main water source? Turn main power off/ on? Use a fire extinguisher? Apply a tourniquet to himself? Know how to self heimelic (sp) maneuver?

That’s quite a list. My 16 year old, and I assume the vast majority of teens who stay alone even overnight are not able to do many of those things.

I would get on teaching them that asap. Those are basic life skills that all teens should know.

I think it depends somewhat on your kid and particular situation (i.e. is there a neighbor nearby who could help, does your kid have a way to call 911, etc.). My oldest is 10 and we just started leaving him alone for short periods (30-45 minutes) because I have a long commute and DH sometimes has to take the younger kids to activities before I am home. DS is reasonably responsible in that he won't go on screens or help himself to snacks in that time. I will say though that there is no way would we leave the younger kids alone with DS1 right now. Maybe in a couple years but he is definitely not mature enough for that now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I leave my 11, 9 and 6 year old at home alone often. I work from home, but I occasionally need to run errands or have an appointment and I leave the 3 alone. My mom k dear can call me from her iPad. We have Ring and I can see if anyone comes at the door. I haven’t left them alone for date night yet, but I will probably start doing that in a year or so.

Having 3 is different though because if something happens to one, the others can always call me.

Not judging but this would be illegal in MD. You can’t leave a 6 year old in the care of kids under 13. So the older two could be home for intervals but not the little one.

To answer OP, you can start slowly with your child for short stints, but you should probably have a sitter for regular/longer stints while in ES.

Virginia doesn't have any laws around this (individual VA counties do), so poster could easily be in VA.

Anonymous wrote:I leave my 11, 9 and 6 year old at home alone often. I work from home, but I occasionally need to run errands or have an appointment and I leave the 3 alone. My mom k dear can call me from her iPad. We have Ring and I can see if anyone comes at the door. I haven’t left them alone for date night yet, but I will probably start doing that in a year or so.

Having 3 is different though because if something happens to one, the others can always call me.

Not judging but this would be illegal in MD. You can’t leave a 6 year old in the care of kids under 13. So the older two could be home for intervals but not the little one.

To answer OP, you can start slowly with your child for short stints, but you should probably have a sitter for regular/longer stints while in ES.

We sometimes leave a key for our nine year-old if it’s going to be close to when they get home from school. We’re always home within 20 to 30 minutes. I don’t really feel good about it, but we don’t always have a back up person to pick them up.

My child is somewhat impulsive and I don’t know that they would know what to do if they got locked out of the house/distracted. No phone no smartwatch.